Congresswoman Lateefah Simon and Congressman Al Green Lead Effort to Ensure Enforcement of Fair Housing Anti-Discrimination Protections

September 23, 2025
Press Release

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Congresswoman Lateefah Simon (D-CA-12) and Congressman Al Green (D-TX-09) led 50 of their colleagues in a letter to Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Scott Turner expressing deep concern regarding the agency’s commitment to Fair Housing Act enforcement. Under the Trump Administration, HUD has reduced its investigation and enforcement activities through regulation rollbacks, grant terminations, staffing reductions, and impediments to complaint intake process and investigation.

The Fair Housing Act is a civil rights law that protects against housing discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, familial status, or disability. The Act prohibits discrimination by landlords, banks, municipalities, homeowners' insurers, and real estate companies. According to the National Fair Housing Alliance’s (NFHA) 2024 report, over 34,000 complaints of housing discrimination were received in 2023, the largest-ever number recorded since NFHA began collecting this data in the mid-1990's. Discrimination based on disability accounted for the majority of complaints, followed by race. 

However, despite the growing number of complaints, the members are concerned that HUD is undermining effective enforcement of the Fair Housing Act in the following ways:

  1. The administration’s use of deferred resignations at the Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity Office (FHEO),
  2. Impeding the ability to submit complaints by removing intake on phones or in regional offices,
  3. Grant terminations to Fair Housing Initiatives Programs (FHIP) which administer fair housing programs,
  4. Rolling back regulations on disparate impact analysis, a tool for rooting out housing discrimination,
  5. Refusal to process complaints based on sexual orientation, gender identity, and gender expression, and
  6. Rolling back policies that eliminate bias in home appraisals. 

In a letter to Secretary Turner, Representatives Simon and Green led members in writing: 

“These actions will lead to devastating outcomes for our nation’s most vulnerable populations, including veterans, seniors, people with disabilities, domestic violence survivors, families with children, people of color, and more. HUD should not shrink efforts to root out discriminatory actions that impede Americans’ ability to access housing free from discrimination. We demand that HUD reverse course and ensure fair housing opportunity for all.”

Representatives Simon and Green requested the following information by October 17, 2025: 

  1. A detailed plan discussing how HUD plans to continue to enforce our nation’s fair housing laws.
  2. Current staffing levels within FHEO, including staff reductions or reallocations that have taken place since January 20, 2025.
  3. The impact of the changes to staffing levels experienced at FHEO on HUD’s ability to effectively and efficiently process housing discrimination complaints.
  4. A description of the assessment process HUD undertook in implementing the recent changes to the HUD complaint intake process, and the rationale for the changes.
  5. HUDs plans to monitor and evaluate the impact of any procedural changes made to HUD’s complaint intake process, which should include actively soliciting feedback from local nonprofit fair housing organizations, stakeholders, and the public and making the necessary adjustments to ensure everyone can fairly access HUD’s complain process.
  6. The current number and status of pending fair housing complaints.
  7. The number of complaints that have been closed since January 20, 2025.
  8. A detailed list of contracts, agreements, or activities relating to fair housing that have been cancelled or are being consideration for cancellation.
  9. The status of pending fair housing complaints that allege disparate impact discrimination.
  10. An assessment as to what extent is HUD’s actions on the Equal Access Rule consistent with the Supreme Court’s decision in Bostock, holding that discrimination on the basis of “sex” includes discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity.
  11. A detailed plan on how HUD plans to ensure that its policies further the effort to modernize appraisals and that every consumer receives a fair valuation for their home and home equity.

Representatives Simon and Green were joined by: Yassamin Ansari (AZ-03), Nanette Diaz Barragan (CA-44), Joyce Beatty (OH-03), Andre Carson (IN-07), Greg Casar (TX-35), Sean Casten (IL-06), Judy Chu (CA-28), Emanuel Cleaver, II (MO-05), Steve Cohen (TN-09), J. Luis “Lou” Correa (CA-46), Angie Craig (MN-02), Diana DeGette (CO-01), Mark DeSaulnier (CA-10), Dwight Evans (PA-03), Cleo Fields (LA-06), Valerie P. Foushee (NC-04), Jesus G. “Chuy” Garcia (Il-04), Sylvia R. Garcia (TX-29), Jimmy Gomez (CA-34), Jared Huffman (CA-02), Glenn Ivey (MD-04), Pramila Jayapal (WA-07), Henry “Hank” Johnson, Jr. (GA-04), Robin L. Kelly (IL-02), Raja Krishnamoorthi (Il-08), Greg Landsman (OH-01), John B. Larson (CT-01), Summer L. Lee (PA-12), Ted W. Lieu (CA-36), Doris Matsui (CA-07), Sarah McBride (DE-AL), Jennifer McClellan (VA-04), James P. McGovern (MA-02), LaMonica McIver (NJ-10), Kweisi Mfume (MD-07), Eleanor Holmes Norton (DC-AL), Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (NY-14), Ilhan Omar (MN-05), Brittany Petersen (CO-07), Chellie Pingree (ME-01), Delia C. Ramirez (IL-03), Jamie Raskin (MD-08), Adam Smith, Shri Thanedar (MI-13), Rashida Tlaib (MI-12), Paul D. Tonko (NY-20), Ritchie Torres (NY-15), Nydia M. Velazquez (NY-07), and Nikema Williams (GA-05).

A copy of the letter can be found HERE. 

In the House of Representatives, Congresswoman Simon is a fair housing champion. Earlier this year, Congresswoman Simon and Congressman Green (D-TX-09) led 69 of their colleagues in a letter to the House Appropriations Committee Subcommittee on Transportation, Housing, and Urban Development urging funding for Fair Housing Act programs including the Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity office (FHEO), the Fair Housing Initiatives Program (FHIP), and the Fair Housing Assistance Program (FHAP). 

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